The Good Samaritan, Verses the Bad Samaritan.

Capitalist society, verses socialist society!

a Political or Social problem

Your Problem or your solution!

Less is more, more or less!

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

27 He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' ; and, 'Love your neighbor as Yourself.' "

28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho , when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went Away, leaving him half dead.

31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he Passed by on the other side.

32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, He took pity on him.

34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the Man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.

35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look After him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you May have.'

36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the Hands of robbers?"

37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go And do likewise."

I wonder how many people know the story about the Good Samaritan from the Bible, Luke 10:33. Let me give a modern day translation according to Clive.
There was a man walking down the street one day, and came across a man who was lying on the pavement all messed up. Looked just like a tramp, stinky, smelly, filthy, and blood all over the place, a read pain in the butt kind of situation. What to do, can't very well walk over him, don't want to get my nice Gucci shoes dirty, so cross the road, and walk as far away from this mess as possible. The bible version! The Good Samaritan found this man all beat up, wounded by robbers, and took pity on him, helped him up, and took him to the nearest hotel, booked him into a room and had the hotel manager call for a doctor. The Good Samaritan told the hotel manager, "take care of this man until he is completely healed, and when I return in a few days, I will take care of all the bills." And he did. Today's version, see a man like this on the pavement, cross to the other side of the street, have as little to do with this kind of situation as possible, don't get your nice new shoes dirty, let alone your hands, and as for helping him up, and booking him into a hotel, and paying his bills………… where do YOU stand, What would YOU do.
Europe is changing. The old Europe social foundation is was based on the old Judo Christian foundations. Here in France our society was based on a social system where the deeper conviction of the way of life was "stop and help that wounded person lying on the pavement, because you never know when it could be you. Today things have changed, one would probably phone the police to have the wounded person removed because he does not look good on our small town pavement, people might get the wrong idea. Our values were more social, and as we say In French, "famillial" family oriented, and it was social interaction that mattered more than the material. When I lived in the U.S.A. California, people would judge one another, by the clothes they wore, by the car you drove, the house you had, where you lived, the money you had, and the going saying was, "he who has the most toys, wins". All values were based on material value, and I then understood why the Americans were the way they were, soulless, without soul, or spirit. Dog eats dog philosophy, was the rule of the day, greed and selfish short term profit, materialism. Michael Douglas in the Movie Wall Street makes his famous speech which was praised by the Americans…. Think about it, when at the end of the day you have all the toys and are alone, and lonely, without friends and family, what do you have but a bunch of "things," that can rot, rust, and be destroyed, how can that make you any happier?
Read some of Douglas's quotes from the movie "Wall Street" which contributed to his Oscar:
"The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word,
is good.
Greed is good. Greed works."
"The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own."
"You see that building over there? I bought it three years ago. My first real estate transaction. I sold it ten months later and made $800,000 profit. It was better than sex. At the time it was all the money in the world. Now it's a day's pay."
"It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or gained its simple transferred from one perception to another."
"If you need a friend, get a dog."
"If something's worth doing, it's worth doing for money."
"Greed captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit."

Adam Smith would surely agree with the last statement, as he held the capitalistic opinion that all people were generally motivated by their own interests. Hence, many Americans can easily identify with Gekko's riveting character in Wall Street, no matter how villainous Douglas portrays the archetype.

"Greed is good??" "A deal is better than sex" "If you need a friend,
Get a dog" Are they mad or what???
And now I see the danger coming to France. When I was in the USA they kept saying "who cares" there was even a rock group called "who cares". Here in France people understood that we had to care, because one never knew what would happen tomorrow, and what happens to your next door neighbour today, could happen to you today. And so people cared. Slowly the evil worm of Americanism and capitalism is creeping into France. Our capitalist president, Nicolas Sarkozy is now trying to bring this system of capitalist society to us here in France, a country whose constitution is based on "Liberty equality and fraternity". "Competition is good for the health of our economy" is the famous quotation from Sarko and now the competition in France is killing the economy, dog eats dog, shops are opening next to other shops, selling the same products, where as before under the socialist government, there was protection, and so price wars take place, when one shop sells cheaper than the other, until No One makes any money, people start to lose their fraternity "brotherhood" feeling for one another, as Sarko preaches "competition" Dog eats Dog, Greed is good!. All good and easy to say to those who have money, how do you relate that to the poor and needy, to the man who lies on the pavement, all beaten up bloody and dying, or to the Africans, or the poor people in India. "Well idiot, if you had paid into a private medical insurance company with money you never earned, because you never were born into the "privileged society, you would not need a Good Samaritan.
Capitalism and materialism are Not the answer, and no matter how many toys you have when you die, they will not help you to win, any thing!

True joy, happiness, contentment, with peace,
Love and Light, come from.
Believing in, and knowing, God, and having a relationship with Him.

Living by the ancient law, of the one, and only true God! The law of "Love your neighbor" turn the other cheek" "give and it will be given to you", forgive them as they forgive you", and of course, "go and sell everything you have, and follow me" A life filled with the Fruits of the Spirit, Love, Joy, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Meekness, Faith, Peace, patience, Generosity, Kindness, Forgiveness, is far more rewarding, than having all the "toys" money, and materialistic things, and being alone and unhappy. I know people around me, who have lots of money and "toys," they are filled with greed and the desire for more, and more, and they are lonely and sad people, with few real friends. I personally do not want to live like that, I prefer to be "social" ist, poor, and have real, good, close friends, who will stand by me trough thick and thin, through better and for worse, a relationship with people, based on true friendship, love, understanding, kindness, honesty, sharing and generosity. I never want to have friends, or people around me, who want to know me because of the materialistic things I have, the car I drive, the cloths I wear, the area or house I live in, where I live etc.
So, to conclude! Good Samaritan or No Good Samaritan? So many people would agree with me and say'
"no we need Good Samaritans", we need to be Good Samaritans, but I say, "easy to say" if you believe, that we do need to be good Seminarians, then live that conviction, and be a doer of the word not just a say'er !
Viva la Revolution! Rise up I say, revolt against the system of material, capitalist, corruption! Get back to the roots of your fellow human being, and to the creator, God! Live for life, for Love for God and for your fellow brother and sister. Live not for the material value of the things of this world. "You are in the world but not of this world". Do not conform to the ways of this world but rather be transformed, by the renewing of your mind, and living for the principles of God!

"Peace I give unto you, not the peace of this world but rather the Peace of God," with His Love, and His Light, to shine you through the dark roads of temptation, destruction and Deception.

Clive